Infectious
by Celestial Coffee-Can
Summary: A mysterious plague wiped out almost all the adult population in the ninja world. In this world lives a boy called Naruto Uzumaki, a cheerful boy regardless of the circumstances. There is not much known about the disease, and what Naruto is about to discover might shake the foundation of his life to the core. (Genre is subject to change for later chapters.)


**Infectious**

**infectious** [ɪnˈfɛkʃəs] _adj_ - Caused by or capable of being transmitted by infection.

**Full Summery: **A mysterious plague wiped out almost all the adult population in the ninja world. It has been 20 years and the plague is still a growing issue, attacking the children after they stop growing. Protective sanctuaries are being formed but much of the world is ravaged by fear. In one of the areas being regarded as "safe" lives a young boy named Naruto Uzumaki. There are still many things unknown about the disease, and Naruto will soon find out a shocking truth about it all that may change everything about him forever.

* * *

It started with a cough. Just a little thing like that, nothing major. You would then get chills running up and down your spine, a runny nose; even a sneeze or two. Those were the first signs, everyone thought they were harmless. At least, until you started spewing up blood and you bloated because of all the fluid in your veins. If you were lucky you would break a few arteries in a row and just bleed out within seconds.

Most of them weren't. Most of them took days, maybe even weeks to burst, and often they did it slowly. By the time you died you wouldn't even look like yourself, just a hulking mass of purple and blue. Those who suffered would be in such pain that they would beg to be killed because they couldn't stand it anymore. This was the fate of the adult shinobi 20 years ago.

Well, I shouldn't say all of them, some of them lived. Usually they took off for the outskirts of town and were never seen or heard from again. Seeing the people they grew up with swell and die in agonizing pain, thrashing around, screaming all the way traumatized some so they just went insane; a better deal in my opinion. I don't want to talk about that anymore.

Oh, I'm Naruto Uzumaki by the way!

I'm studying to be a ninja! Well, not really studying, and not really becoming a ninja either. Being a ninja as a job kind of went downhill after almost all the ninjas died. Most of the teachers are the kids that survived the onset of the plague, made it to adulthood, and did not respond to the disease. I can't tell you how often our teachers get sick and are thrown out because of the disease. That's what they do to keep us all safe. Even after 20 years you would think that they would have found out what causes it right? UH, WRONG.

No one knows what causes it because most of the scientists died of it. In a way it is kind of funny, the people who were meant to save others ended up croaking in the end. There is only one that survived and no one knows where he is. Rumors go around that he went insane like the rest of them and began taking the stragglers who had no chance to experiment on them. Those are just rumors though.

Anyway, when someone gets sick they just toss them outside the gates. Well, the brick wall anyway, the gates broke down before the plague and no one wanted to fix them so we just piled bricks up to about seven feet. It may not keep people out but it lets others know we are a "safe" place. What is a safe place? Jeez, you really don't know anything do you.

Alright, let me tell you, a safe place is where you want to be. Not really because of the word safe in it, but because it means we are the closest to being free of the infection in the nation. Really there are no nations anymore since the lines cannot be found because it is not like people are going out of their way to say "this is my place and I will call it _". There is not much of that anymore, except for the safe places. Right now there is a total of 5 safe places on the planet, mine is Konoha, the Village Hidden in the Leaves. Nature does not stop, even when there is a global catastrophe upon us.

Oh you liked that huh? My friend Shikamaru says that all the time. He says that his dad said that before he left to go to work. Later that day he got sick and in a few weeks he was dead. I don't think Shikamaru ever got over that, he and his dad were really close. Choji was even worse when his mom went, wouldn't stop crying for days and locked himself up in his room. It took a lot of convincing from his teacher (at the time) to get him to come out. Now he is doing a lot better, still sensitive but that can't be helped. We all have issues.

Since I am on that subject I might as well say that most of us saw our parents go. Sakura's parents died in April when she was three. She still remembers their faces and always carries a picture of them around with her. Neji and Hinata's parents all died around the same time in May when they were five; they all got infected around the same time. Kiba's mom, oh god that was bad, she was one of the last to go. She thought she was safe so she kept working, but one of the dogs she was caring for bite her and soon after she started with her illness. Only took her a few days to pass. What's worse is that Kiba didn't even know because he was staying at my house for the week. We had to have been about eight or nine when we walked in and saw her bloody remains on the living room floor. I still don't know if he got the stain off.

As for me, I didn't get to see them at all; they died a little while after I was born. Sometimes I feel lonely but then I wi;; look at all the kids whose parents died when they were young and realize maybe it was better that I didn't see them suffer. Ino sat holding her father's hand until he took his very last breath; I couldn't think of having the guts to do that. Plus, I don't have to share a bathroom because I don't have a brother or a sister.

Sorry…that wasn't very funny. As for my classes I mainly learn about how being a ninja used to be, helping the common man, jumping on rooftops, kicking ass! So I guess it is more of a history class, but if I called it that I would fall asleep in it, which I DON'T want to do. I only have to worry about that one class anyway since most of the building is broken down. It's the only classroom; we just have it broken into sections. Like we will always do math first, then science, and reading/English every other day. I don't like English so much as I do when someone reads to me. I can get into it if someone else reads it, if I read it I skip lines and try to speed through it. That's a habit of mine, but as long as English is not a required subject then I will do fine. Science is my favorite because we usually get to blow things up. Sometimes we have to learn anatomy, but only basic like a twisted ankle or a bruised knee. Ninjas used to get hurt all the time, so I guess it is important to know that stuff.

My friend Sakura wants to be a doctor. She was going through her attic a few years after her parents died and she found a bunch of old medical books. I guess it kind of flipped a switch and since then she has wanted to be like the doctors of old.

There has not been a new teacher for a while, so we are teaching ourselves until someone comes along that wants a full time thing. Sakura is usually the one who leads the science class right now, although sometimes Kiba does too. He is the one who blows stuff up. If he is not doing that, he teaches us about all these different bugs and animals. I don't know how he has all the bug stuff though, Kiba says he has a…oh what is the word, correspondent? I have no idea and I don't really care. But he tells us that one day we might need the information and I guess he is right. I just wish it wasn't so boooooring. Shikamaru teaches us math, when he is awake anyway. Usually he's asleep because he stays up all night playing shogi with Choji. Sometimes though we have a really fun math class, Shikamaru is awake and is in the mood to tell a story. The worst math class is when Shikamaru stands up and continually states how boring the class will be for the entire class.

Reading is sometimes fun depending upon who is reading. Neji can be a good reader because he speaks loud enough for everyone to hear. Lee can turn any serious story into a funny one, which I guess can be bad if it is supposed to be a sad story but I enjoy it. The worst are Hinata and Ino, Hinata is always to shy and quiet (also known as the opposite of Neji, seriously how are they cousins?) while as Ino is so so so stupid that her voice is like nails on a chalk board. She like, talks like, oh my god, this. Yes, I did say that Ino has guts, but that doesn't mean she has anything else. I guess she's alright in her own way.

You know I just realized I haven't been talking about myself much! My friends are Sakura, Choji, Shikamaru, Lee, and Kiba. My enemies are Ino and Neji. I'm not sure about what I think of Hinata, she almost never talks and when she does I can't hear her. There were a few other people that I could talk about, but they left so they are not that important anymore. YEAH, SEE THAT SASUKE I DON'T CARE THAT YOU LEFT.

Hm? Who's Sasuke? Oh, someone who's not important. HEAR THAT DIPSHIT. YOU. DON'T. MATTER.

WHAT DO YOU MEAN I SHOULD STOP YELLING? THIS IS MY HOUSE I CAN YELL IF I WANT TO. YOU AREN'T THE BOSS OF ME. GET THE HELL OUT OF MY HOUSE.

* * *

I'm, uh, sorry I yelled at you earlier. I, um, didn't mean to. Yeah, I didn't mean to. I kind of get mad when I talk about HIM. It is a long story and I don't want to go into details. Anyway, why are you here again?

…

You're a new student? Cool! We don't get many of those! A new student, and a new teacher on the way, awesome! So where are you going to be staying?

…

WITH ME? WHO THE HELL TOLD YOU THAT? NO ONE WANTED TO TELL ME THIS…ah, sorry. I mean, welcome.

I'll clear out a section in the bathroom for you.

* * *

**Author's Note: **It has come to my recent attention that there are many who have suggested that this is based off of Stephen King's popular book The Stand. However, this is not the case as while I was writing this I had never even heard mention of the novel. I do apologize for any offense that was taken, I have modified a few things about the plot line for later chapters.


End file.
